


Why Did It Have to Be Me?

by cora_12264



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:01:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25940278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cora_12264/pseuds/cora_12264
Summary: Haylie is living out her life the way she had planned it since she was a kid. She has successfully moved to Tokyo and is attending Kagayaku Hoshi Animation Academy. Her internship at Bones Inc. Studio is helping her on the path to her dream job. Everything is perfect. Well, for the most part. Okay actually it is really hard. Definitely not perfect. School is hard, interning is hard, finding a second job is hard, and her roommate is kind of a mess. The last thing she needs is one more distraction....
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 2





	1. Gotta Love Roommates

Haylie's phone buzzed wildly on her bedside table, startling her awake. Twenty-two missed texts and seven missed phone calls from her roommate, Saeko. "Hello?'" She said sleepily. "Heyyyy... So I think I left my keys at Aki's house again. Can you please let me in?" Saeko said in that annoyingly sing-song tone she used when she knew she'd pissed someone off. Haylie hung up, grumbled something about 'being sick of this shit' then slid out of bed to open the door. Saeko shuffled in looking like she'd been hit by a truck. Haylie sighed and slumped to the kitchen, "You have to stop drinking after your shifts. One day I’m going to leave you out th- Wait. I thought you and Akiteru broke up?" "We did." She replied flatly. "I mean, we still are. It's a whole thing you wouldn't get it."

Saeko and Haylie have been roommates for almost two years now, if anyone knew the complexities of Saeko's love life it was her. Akiteru and Saeko have been an on-again off-again thing since before Haylie even knew them. They're relationship was always changing, one second they're madly in love, the next they aren't on speaking terms. "So... I'm guessing you guys sorted things out?" Haylie prodded. She was always interested to hear what was going on with the two of them. She didn't have the time, let alone the mental capacity, to have a relationship of her own. So she lived vicariously through Saeko.

"I mean, kind of? He told me that the reason he ignored me for so long was because he thought I was in some sort of weird work fling with the new guy at work. I guess some of his buddies saw us on my bike together and went running to tell him. I swear they all think I'm some kind of crazy slut." She scoffed and continued. "I explained that he's just some kid that needed rides home after work sometimes. He got all jealous because it sounds like we 'just looked way too comfortable together.’ " She mocked Aki's voice in a goofy deep tone while throwing up air quotes. "I told him he's ridiculous and if he has questions about who I'm hanging out with he can just ask me. But also that it's not up to him who I hang around. He's not my dad. So for now we’re still on a break, he’s just too overbearing" She shrugged.

Haylie shook her head and handed Saeko a cup of tea and a plate of breakfast. "You know he just cares a lot about you, right? I mean that Terushima dude does seem like he's always up to something. You can just tell in his face." Saeko laughed and waved Haylie off, "You always think everyone is up to something. They could be the most innocent looking person and you'd think they were secretly an ax murderer!" 

Rolling her eyes, Haylie sat down across the table Saeko and began to eat. "I'm just saying. Maybe you give Aki too much flack for trying to protect you." Saeko begins to rebuttal but she's quickly cut off. "And don't even try to start the whole 'I don't need to be protected blah blah blah independent woman' thing. You're a young woman, working at a bar, in the middle of downtown, in the middle of the night. It's dangerous for anyone."

Saeko knew Haylie was right, Haylie was always right. "Enough about me!" said Saeko waving her toast in dismissal, "How was your night out last night? You said you and the other interns were going out, did you at least try to have fun?" She wiggled her eyebrows. "Did you meet any potential suitors?" Haylie gave her a playfully irritated scowl, “Suitors? Really? Do you have to say it like that?” “Oh I’m sorry, would you rather me just ask if you got down and dirty? Horizontal tango? Bumped uglies? Take a trip to pound town?” Haylie knew if she didn’t cut her off she’d just keep going. “Nope.” She interrupted mid-sentence, “No. Nope. Thanks. You can stop now.” Once Saeko was no longer rattling off her countless colloquialisms for hooking up she spoke through her laughter, “I’m sorry I’m sorry. I just want you to have some fun every once in a while! Did you have a good time?” Haylie smiled, it was a small smile, but still a smile. “Yes I did. I really like all the other interns. Yachi and I got to talking about our interests and we have a lot in common. Her and Tadashi went to the same high school so they are already pretty close. We’re kind of like the best friend trio at work now.” 

Saeko nods in approval, “Yachi and Yams are great people, I was so excited when you told me you were working with them. Yachi is like a little sister to me, the little sister I always wanted… But instead I got Ryu.” She laughs and then lets out a yawn. “Well I think it’s time for me to head to bed. I work again tonight so I gotta get some rest. I’ll make sure to feed Gomi today so you don’t have to worry about it.” They both looked over at the scrappy looking black cat that was basking in the sunlight on the back of the couch. Gomi was just a kitten when they found him behind their building by the dumpster. Hence the name Gomie, it literally means garbage. He was moody and definitely the boss of the house, if he wasn’t fed on time, there would be hell to pay.

“Thank Sae.” Haylie put the dishes in the sink. Saeko put her hand on her hip and saluted Haylie with the other, “No problem m’lady! I shall offer the demon his sacrifice to maintain peace and balance in the galaxy.” “Go to bed you psycho.”, Haylie scoffed a laugh and patted Gomi on the head before heading to her room to get ready.


	2. Aren't First Days the Best?

Getting ready didn't usually take Haylie very long, but today was different. Her second semester started today and she was going to be applying for jobs in her free time. First impressions are important after all. She applied her makeup carefully and put her hair in a professional, but casual looking bun. It was the middle of August in Tokyo so wearing her hair down was not an option, although it's what she preferred, it was just way too hot outside. She had her outfit picked out two weeks ago, a light grey short suit set with a simple black tank top underneath. Saeko helped her pick it out because it was ‘business casual but still flirty’, whatever that meant. She added a few simple accessories, grabbed her bag and set out for the day. 

The train ride to class was about twenty minutes, luckily it wasn’t busy today. Sometimes the trains can be so packed full that you couldn’t even stand still without touching another person. She found her way to her classroom and picked a spot near the front. The desks were large, with the most expensive computer equipment she’d ever seen. Although she preferred 2D animation, 3D animation was a required course. Besides, any knowledge she could get about the industry was worth it.

A tall blonde boy with glasses picked the desk next to her, he had headphones on so she decided it best to not introduce herself. She didn’t really want to anyway, talking to new people is so stressful. Over the next ten minutes the class began to fill and the professor arrived shortly after. The first day of class is always so boring. The teacher droned on about the syllabus, projects, finals, attendance policy and something about eating food by the computers. The specifics of what was being said were lost on her because she was so distracted by the fact that the guy sitting next to her still had his headphones on. Was he even paying attention?

Leaning over, she taps his shoulder and motions for him to take his headphones off. He slowly removes them from his head and raises an eyebrow at her. “Can I help you?” he whispers sarcastically. Taken back by his tone, Haylie blinks a few times before responding, “Um, yeah. Do you think you could maybe turn the music off? I can kinda hear it and it-” Before she can finish he puts them back on and turns back to face the board. “Okay then…” she mumbles under her breath.

Class seems to drag forever, but once it’s done she packs up quickly to hop back on the train. Interning at Bones Inc. was a dream come true, but it did not pay very well. It wasn't an issue until her landlord decided to increase the cost of rent when they resigned their lease. Saeko was kind enough to pay more than her 50% while Haylie searched for a job. The jar of tips Saeko had been saving from her long nights of bartending were meant to go towards a new bike. When Haylie found out she broke it open so they could pay their bills she was furious. More at herself than anything else, why was finding a job so hard?

Over the next few hours Haylie walked around with copies of her resumé, giving one to the manager at every place that had a ‘Help Wanted’ sign in the window. At this point she didn’t care where she worked. She just needed another job.

It was almost noon by the time she was done, she was supposed to be to a meeting at the studio at one. She headed in the direction of the studio, if she got there early enough the sweet ladies in the cafeteria would give her whatever was left from breakfast that they didn’t sell. She was in no rush though, the walk to the studio was beautiful. It was in the high class part of downtown. Tall, sleek, luxury condo buildings loomed above. Pink and purple flowered trees lined the streets. It looked like a scene from a movie.

The sound of her phone buzzing in her pocket snapped her out of her daze. It was just Yachi asking if she could steal a pen from her desk, but if not it was totally okay, she just wanted to be sure. Haylie paused for a moment to reply back. Yachi was so funny sometimes. It was just a pen, not the end of the world. Right as she’s pressing send, something knocks her to the ground and her phone goes skidding into the street. “Shit!” She remarks, quickly getting up and running after it.

Before she can reach it she’s forcefully pulled back by her shirt and a car goes zooming past a few inches in front of her. Her phone is shattered into a million unrecognizable pieces. After taking a moment to realize that she almost just died she turns to see who definitely just saved her life. She starts to thank him but she's a little disoriented. He grabs her by the shoulders and sits her on a nearby bench.

He begins speaking so fast Haylie can hardly tell what he’s saying. “OHMYGODIAMSOSORRY. IWASNTWATCHINGWHEREIWASGOING. ARE YOU OKAY!? IAMSOSORRY!” He’s kneeling in front of her at eye level, with his hand on either side of her head, searching her face signs of a concussion. “I’m fine. Jesus Christ.” She snapped, slapping his hand away from her face. He looked back to the street where the pieces of her phone lay in a pile. “Holy shit your phone! I feel like such a jerk. I’ll pay for a new one! Whatever phone you want! I cannot believe that just happened.” He stands up and gets his wallet out of his pocket.

As he’s rifling through the contents of his wallet Haylie finally gets a solid look at him. He’s tall, not like, super tall, but definitely tall. His jet black hair looks like it hasn’t been brushed in days, but somehow it doesn’t look bad. He has definitely been running because he is dripping in sweat. He feels her stare and looks up from his wallet. She quickly looks away. Hopefully he didn’t see her staring.

He definitely saw, he cracks a sly smile but decides not to say anything about it. “So I don’t really have enough cash on me right now to cover it, but I can wire you the money if you give me your…” He trails off, realizing the predicament. ‘My what?” Haylie says, blinking expectantly. “My phone number? Yeah that would be really convenient wouldn’t it?”

He looks around to see if there is an ATM, but of course there isn't. Unsure of what to do he just stands there with a puzzled look on his face. Haylie clasps her hands together in annoyance, “Listen, I have a meeting I have to be at in fifteen minutes, I’m starving, and my phone is toast. Thanks for saving my life or whatever, but I have to go.” She collects her bag from the sidewalk and dusts herself off. Her knees are visibly scraped and bloodied. “Let me help you-” The man goes to take her free hand but Haylie holds it up to stop him. “Don’t worry about me, or the phone. Shit happens.” He stammers, “B-But your knees they-” She cuts him off again. “Maybe just don’t run into people next time alright?” ‘

Frustrated and still incredibly hungry Haylie walks as fast as her feet will allow. She’s never been late before, and she isn’t going to let some stupid hot guy that can’t watch where his dumb face is going ruin that. She makes it to her meeting in the nick of time, Yachi gasps when she sees Haylie’s knees. “What happened to you!?” She said frantically. Plopping down into her chair Haylie sighs, “I don’t even want to talk about it.”


	3. A Proposal

Haylie interned in the illustration department while Yachi interned in the story boarding department, and Yamaguchi was the CEO’s executive intern. Even though they all had different jobs, their desks were crammed together in what little space was available in the corner. They hardly ever left each other's side during the work day. Yamaguchi walked out from the CEO’s office and cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting to the office, “Alright everyone! Meeting in five minutes, make your way to the conference room!” Haylie began gathering her laptop to take notes, “What’s this meeting about anyways? On the schedule it just says it's a proposal meeting. We don’t usually go to those.” Proposal meetings were typically only attended by the studio’s bigwigs to see what projects they wanted to take on and animate. Sometimes it's movies or shows, and sometimes it’s video games. 

Yachi leaned over and whispered, “Apparently some big online gaming star is coming to share his idea for an original game. If the studio picks it up it will be a huge money maker for both sides. I think he’s known online as ‘Kodzuken’ but I’m not sure. Anyways, the studio wants every employee available there to make a good impression.”Haylie shrugs and walks down the hall to the big conference room with Yachi and Yams close behind. “I don’t really know much about online gaming but if he’s that big of a deal that the boss wants everyone there then I guess he’s pretty important.” She takes a seat with the other interns towards the middle of the long conference table lined with about 50 chairs. They get their laptops open and ready to take notes.

Once everyone finished filing in, the CEO greeted everyone then quickly turned the meeting over to the short, skinny guy with bleached blonde hair standing at the front of the room. He had a quiet voice and soft features. He was extremely beautiful, not handsome, beautiful. His hair was tied up in a knot at the base of his neck, the few strands of hair that fell out framed his face perfectly. He introduced himself as Kenma Kozume, or Kodzuken, whichever you prefer. The black suit he wore was lined with an expensive red silk that matched the tie he had neatly tied around his neck. 

He spoke for almost an hour about the game he has been producing on his own for a little over a year, it sounded amazing. Imagine if you took animal crossing, but make it spooky. You build a town for evil residents to reside in, you have to learn spells and potions, you build weapons and use them to defend your town against angry mobs. Haylie and Yamaguchi chatted on email the whole meeting about how cool the game sounded. If the studio took this project on this was the perfect opportunity for Haylie to get her foot in the door. She still had so much to learn, but this was right in her skill set.

“I am asking for a 30% take and if my numbers are correct, I believe with the right marketing we could sell over 10 million copies.” Kenma clicked off the last slide of his presentation and the lights came back up. The read on the room was disappointing, it was obvious the big shots were unimpressed. “Well Mr. Kozume… When you said you had an idea for a brand new game that would blow everyone away we had no idea what to expect.” Said the Head Producer. “I’m confused Kenma, you told us in all of our correspondents that you had an exciting new concept that was a no brainer to fund. I’m not sure this is quite the direction we are going for with our next project.” Kenma clasped his hands tightly around the remote and stuttered a bit, “Well y-you see sir I have a lot of faith in this game. If anyone knows what the gaming market needs right now it’s me.” He straightens himself up and speaks with more confidence. “I do this for a living. Name a game you admire and I have played it, beaten it, and learned from it. I have the knowledge to help produce a fun game, for anyone of any age to play. This is the kind of game I would stream to my fans. This is what people want!” 

The CEO nods solemnly and stands, giving Kenma a slight bow. “Thank you for your time Kenma. I see a lot of potential in you, but I just don’t think this is going to be the right move for us.” He leaves the room and people hastily file out behind him. Kenma sits back in his chair and puts his head in his hands, mumbling to himself. Yachi gets up to leave and stops when she realizes Haylie hasn’t moved. “C’mon, let's go get you something to eat. I think the cafeteria has tonkatsu ramen today. My treat?” She holds out her hand for Haylie to take. “Umm.. Yeah I’ll meet you there. I’m going to hang around for a little bit. Push the chairs in, wipe the table and whatnot.” Haylie half smiles. “Classic Haylie.” Yachi giggles. “Overachiever. Alright well I’ll wait for you at our usual table.” She turns and heads out leaving Kenma and Haylie alone.


	4. The Opportunity of a Lifetime

Haylie begins to push the chairs in, eyeing Kenma closely. He is furiously typing on his phone as fast as his fingers will allow him. He glances up at Haylie, then back to his phone, then back to her again. “What happened to your knees?”, he said while still typing away. “Oh,” she looks down at her knees. They definitely look worse than they feel. “Just ya know, I fell after some dude ran into me while running, it knocked my phone into the street, I went to get it, almost got hit by a car. It was a whole thing.” She shrugged and let out a little laugh that was more like a huff of air.

“Jesus.” Kenma mumbled. “That sucks.” He sets his phone down and taps his fingers on the table. “Is it alright if I hang out here for a while? My boyfriend is coming to meet me for lunch and I just don’t really want to sit in a restaurant alone. People just come up to me and it’s so annoying.” Haylie pushes in another chair and shrugs, “I don’t really care. I’m just an intern so it doesn’t really matter to me.” He nods and leans back in his chair. “So is everyone around here as much of an asshole as the boss?” 

“No not really, I mean sometimes, actually I mean a lot of people here are just super full of themselves and think that just because they work here they’re special. All the other interns are cool though. The cafeteria staff is really nice. The mail guy is really cool. Ummm.. yeah that's about it.” She shrugs. “Sorry if I’m asking too many questions. But if everyone here sucks so bad why stay?” He tucks a loose strand of hair behind his ear and tilts his head to the side quizzically. Haylie sits down across the table from him and shrugs again, “It’s a job that pays, and it looks great on a resume. An internship here is basically a shoe-in to the animation industry.” 

“You want to animate? That’s pretty awesome. I can’t really draw so I’m super jealous of anyone that can. I'm just good at playing video games and hanging out with my friends.” He laughs a little and looks back to his phone. “Hey but at least you can make money doing that. Sounds like a sweet gig to me. I can’t even get a second job to make some extra money so ya know, what are drawing skills helping me with there?” She laughs and reaches into her pocket for her phone, only to quickly remember it’s not there.

Kenma looks up from his phone and actually maintains eye contact with her for the first time. “You need a second job you say?” She nods and before she can even speak again he continues. “I’m looking for an animator for my business. It’s super small right now but I can pay you a good wage. Do you have a portfolio you could send me? If you got hired at a place like this you’ve got to be good right? You seem really chill. I think it would be awesome to have you work with me.”

“Oh. Wow. That’s like super generous of you but I’ve never really animated professionally before I don’t know how good I am at it. I mean I’m still in school…” She begins to realize that this is not the moment to be humble. She has been looking for months for a second job and the moment an opportunity arises she’s already declining it? “I’ll tell you what.” He grabs a paper from her notebook and her pen. “Here’s my email and my number. Send me your portfolio, I’ll take a look at it. I’ll run some numbers and see what I can pay you. And we can go from there?”

Haylie takes the paper and tucks it in the pocket of her blazer, “Thank you, this is super generous of you… Sorry the meeting went the way it did. They were pretty harsh. I think your game sounds awesome.” He shrugs, “As frustrating as it is to be shot down, all it does is give me more motivation to take it to the next studio and make it a hit there. Then these guys will regret ever telling me no.”

He turns his attention to the hall, a shorter guy with bright orange hair waves at him from outside the office door and waves with a big smile on his face. Kenma cracks the biggest smile Haylie has seen from him yet and gets up. “That’s my cue to go. I look forward to seeing your work….” He trails off realizing he hasn’t even asked her name yet. “Haylie.” She smiles. “Haylie. Nice to meet you Haylie.” He leaves the meeting room and walks arm in arm with his boyfriend into the elevator.

Haylie gathered her things and headed to meet Yachi in the cafeteria. She couldn’t believe it. Her first potential job as a professional animator! She was so excited, and nervous, and scared, but excited! But what if he hated her work? What if he never even emails her back? What if he hires her but she can’t do the work? She shakes her head, as if that will help the thoughts go away. It doesn’t. She can’t think about that right now though. She is starving and hasn’t eaten all day. Time for some lunch.


End file.
